Community Council Meeting March 19th

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Ryan

You are invited to attend the monthly Victory Heights Community Council meeting on Tuesday, March 19th at 7 PM at the Pre-school in Victory Heights Park.
The agenda will include two speakers, Roger Iwata with Sound Transit (Lynnwood Link light rail project, which will go from Northgate to Lynnwood) and Sandy Motzer (President of the HUB steering committee).
We’ll also get a recap of the town hall meeting with local state legislatures.
Everyone in the neighborhood is encouraged to attend, this is YOUR community council. (Bring a folding chair, the ones at the school are all child-sized).
Get added to the VHCC mailing list and receive notices directly in your inbox. Write to Vice President Sharon Haggerty to be put on the list.
Please take a moment to “Like” the Victory Heights Blog Facebook page.

Posted in Community, Events, News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Meet Your State Representatives March 16th

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Ryan

State Senator David Frockt, Representative Gerry Pollet and Representative Jessyn Farrell of the 46th District will be holding a town hall discussion on the current Washington State legislative session on Saturday, March 16th from 10 AM to Noon at North Seattle Community College.
With the 2013 legislative session halfway over, your legislators want to update you on what has happened to date and hear from you about the issues they are working on. Topics will include the budget, early learning, K-12 and higher education, environmental protection, the safety net, transportation and others. Please bring your questions and your feedback on these and other issues!
North Seattle Community College Concert Hall
9600 College Way North, Seattle

Posted in Community, Events | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Olympic Hills Elementary To Be "Lab School" For Community

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Ryan

From the Families For Lake City blog, families in the north part of Victory Heights who send their kids to Olympic Hills Elementary (as opposed to Sacajawea) may find this interesting. The school is hosting Seattle School District’s first ever “Lab School” for parents and community members showcasing Reader’s Workshop in action.

All parents and community members are invited to attend whether or not they have a student enrolled at Olympic Hills. Participants will be introduced to components of Reader’s Workshop and get to observe a classroom engaged in the workshop model from beginning to end.  This will be followed by a debriefing session with the teacher, school Literacy Coach, and the Principal.
 
The Readers Workshop curriculum provides a balanced literacy approach and is used at several Lake City area schools. This method of reading instruction was created by Dr. Lucy Calkins, a  literacy expert who continues her work at Teachers College, Columbia University through the Reading and Writing Project.
 
Due to the progression of topics covered, Olympic Hills administration requests that all participants attend the event for the entire duration.
 
Olympic Hills Elementary School Library
13018 20th Ave. NE
Thursday, February 28th
9:00 am -10:30 am.

Posted in Community, Events | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Residential Burglaries Increase 157% From 2012

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Ryan

Last night at the Victory Heights Community Council meeting, Community Police Team Crime Prevention Coordinator Terrie Johnstone said residential burglaries for precinct Lincoln 2 (which also includes Lake City, see this PDF map from the city, we’re in L2) went from 14 for the first 50 days in 2012 to 36 for the year to date in 2013. Breaking it down further, she said 21 residential burglaries were within the limits of Victory Heights this year so far.
Read the complete minutes of the February 2013 meeting.
Terrie was accompanied by Officer Kipp Strong of the Seattle Police Department and is available to the public for free home security surveys, inquiries about 911 follow up calls, and dealing with chronic crime. She can be reached at 206-684-7711 or terrie.johnston@seattle.gov . As part of her survey, she advises keeping heavy objects (like lawn ornaments) away from sliding glass doors or large windows where they could be used to break-in. Also, most burglaries occur during the daylight hours between 9 AM and 3 PM when strangers can blend in more easily with delivery and maintenance people in a neighborhood without arousing suspicion.
Burglars like unoccupied houses, so if someone knocks on your door, answer it without opening it, just to let whoever it is know someone is home. Don’t ignore knocking or doorbell rings. And Officer Strong said, “I’d rather be bothered by a suspicious magazine salesman call than having to dust for fingerprints.” He added, “We need your eyes” and that we know our neighbors and what looks suspicious.
And as many people now use cellphones exclusively, it’s important you always know your location if you need to call 911. Unlike a landline, cells don’t automatically display an address for the operator when you call 911. In King County, there is a service called Smart911 where you can register your cell number, so if you do call, information will be available to first-responders.
Other speakers at Tuesday’s meeting included Seattle Department of Transportation representative Art Brochet about the city’s upcoming paving project on NE 125th Street, a summary of last’s month Thornton Creek Alliance meeting about E. coli pollution in the creek, and a Treasurer’s report.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 19th, 7 PM at the Preschool in Victory Heights Park. Speakers will include Sound Transit on the Northgate Link Light Rail station going in at Northgate.
Please take a moment to “Like” the Victory Heights Blog Facebook page.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Victory Heights Community Council Meeting Feb 19th

Posted on February 13, 2013 by Ryan

The monthly meeting of the Victory Heights Community Council will be on Tuesday, February 19th, starting at 7 PM at the Pre-school in Victory Heights Park. Everyone in the community is encouraged to attend.
[Update] Council President Ardi Lupton says the agenda will include:

Safety for women (I have printed out the safety information) 15 copies.
Recent crime reports.
Art Brochet from transportation department would like to speak on the upcoming repaving in Lake City http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/pave_ne125.htm

I imagine the local “crime wave” might be a topic of discussion with the number of robberies, car prowls, and mysterious midnight callers being reported in the neighborhood lately.

Posted in Community, Crime, Events, News | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Draco The Duck Waddles To New Digs

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Ryan

Mamma Duck (on left) and Draco

Mamma Duck (on left) and Draco


Draco, former famous fugitive duck, and his spouse Mamma Duck have been relocated to the front yard, reports owner Terri Bell. With the ducks now housed in a raccoon-proof house, Terri said, “Each morning they are released to roam the yard searching for bugs and slugs and unruly garden plants. We’ll have to work on that last one.”
The Bells are going to resist letting them hatch ducklings for now without further modifications to the fence to prevent tiny escapees.
If you’d like to stop by Victory Lane, Terri says, “You are welcome to come by and see them. Our son has discovered that they like goldfish crackers and breakfast burritos. You’re welcome to toss them a little stale bread as you walk past. They would prefer you toss them a worm or slug, but I’m not so sure I’m comfortable with people tossing slugs into my garden! When hungry, they answer to the call of ‘Duck, duck, duck, …'”
Their house is the one with the chain-link fence, “with an all dirt yard, large trench, woodchips in the driveway, and all sorts of unfinished work.”

Posted in Community | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Car Prowls Vex Victory Lane

Posted on February 9, 2013 by Ryan

Thursday night, a number of residents on Victory Lane discovered car prowls and thefts of some items. Chris said, “Woke up this morning to a open car door and a missing items from my Jeep. Friendly local car prowlers are at it again. Reminder to keep valuables out of sjght and locked inside when possible.”
Good advice. I park outside all the time and I used to keep a lot of loose change and a cellphone charger in my car. These are tempting targets for opportunists, so I cleaned out the car leaving only cloth shopping bags and an ice scraper inside.
Keep an eye out if you can, and report any suspicious activity to the police (they do keep records of activity and will react when a trend appears to be going on in a particular area).

Posted in Community, Crime | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

EveryBlock Signs Off

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Ryan

Each day I check various websites to see what is going on in our neighborhood. One of my daily stops has been EveryBlock, a site that automatically harvested news from various sources, blogs, and police reports for individual neighborhoods. As of February 7th, they have ceased to be. My guess is digesting other people’s news couldn’t generate enough revenue to continue. I suppose that means it will be non-profit blogs like ours that will take up the slack.
Meanwhile, if you want to know what police activity is going on in and around Victory Heights, I highly recommend subscribing to the Seattle Police Department’s Twitter feed for our area.
The Victory Heights Blog also has a Twitter feed (mostly links to articles as I post them), and don’t forget our Facebook page.  You can also receive e-mail notices when a new article is posted, just fill in the box on the column on the right hand side of this page.

Posted in Community, News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Sacajawea Open House February 13th

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Ryan

sacajaweaSacajawea Elementary School, 9501 20th Ave NE, will be hosting its annual Math and Science Fair and Kindergarten Open House on Wednesday, February 13th. Hear presentations from Principal Barry Dorsey and the Kindergarten teachers, and then join the school community during their annual Math & Science Fair.
The Kindergarten Open House is from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM.
The Math and Science Fair will be 6 PM to 7:30 PM.
Please take a minute to “Like” the Victory Heights Blog Facebook page.

Posted in Community, Events, News | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Video: What's big and furry and likes to climb trees?

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Ryan


I spotted this large raccoon yesterday waddling across my backyard in the middle of the day, pretty much on the same path that many of the neighborhood cats use. Today I caught it in action near the side of my house with my video camera. Being a bit shy, it scrambled up a tree.
This animal is very large and could easily take any of the local cats. Please, cat owners, be aware we live close to a wildlife area and there most definitely IS wild life out there.

Posted in Wildlife Habitat | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment